August 31, 2004

A Brand is...

Have you heard the new Alicia Keyssong? I can't listen to it enough. I'm that way with music, I can listen to the same song a hundred times in a row. I was thinking about this last night - it isn't a bond I have with Alicia Keys, it is a bond to the emotional experience I have when I listen to her beautiful music. That bond is then associated with that brand, in effect my brain says: "to have this feeling again, listen to Alicia Keys".

It's strange how this stuff clicks sometimes. And it couldn't have been more odd. Last night after dinner, my wife and I were getting ready to run some errands when I looked out the kitchen window and saw in a deer in our backyard (hopefully this doesn't get too convoluted), the deer has been there several times in the last week but last night was we got a real treat when the deer hung out for like 30 minutes eating some stuff that my wife had put out for it.

Anyway, I was just standing there, enjoying the pleasure of the moment, something so peaceful and serene and it hit me. Ah, this is what it means to be alive. The pure beauty of the world. Sitting in our sunroom at dusk watching wildlife. This is, by definition, an emotional experience.

That emotional experience that I'm bonding to is deeply resonant and is beyond words.

There is a great quote that I heard from Joseph Campbell:

"The best things can't be told because they transcend thought. The second best are misunderstood, because those are the thoughts that are supposed to refer to that which can't be thought about. The third best are what we talk about."

~ Joseph Campbell (paraphrasing Heinrich Zimmer)

Think about what that means - because it is nearly impossible to articulate the full power of an emotion, we miss the opportunity to truly share what we're feeling.

This ties into a larger conversation of Brand Loyalty, which I have argueddoes exist. But I'm not so sure about that anymore.

Comments

Hi Jon:

You are SO close! ;-) May I humbly recommend that you substitute the word "bond" with "expectation." You have an expectation of emotional resonance with Alicia Keyes, and thus you are willing to exchange something of value for it (in this case money).

Here is my clear-eyed definition: A brand is an expectation of someone or something to deliver a certain feeling, by way of an experience and/or result. And if it is a strong brand, people are willing to either pay a premium for it, or trade something of value above and beyond the price (e.g. the time it takes to drive out of one's way).

Yeah, you may recommend that suggestion indeed. I guess that expectation is a better word, I have an expectation that "it" will provide that feeling. I think that in many respects, it is still a mental bond.

The question about loyalty becomes - and you asked me this on our debate on the Fast Company Blog - what happens if someone/something else can provide that same emotional experience? Man, that is a great question now that I'm starting to understand this a little better.

What happens if the next Alicia Keys CD doesn't provide the same emotional experience? What happens after I get tired of listening to either of her first two CD's? Does that "Brand" loyalty exist?

I suggested that there were plenty of examples of Brand loyalty, but I'm not so sure about all of them, for the reason cited above.